Research
Dogslife is a web-based epidemiological project designed to collect information about the health and lifestyle of pet dogs. At present Dogslife is focussed on young Labrador Retrievers but the project aims to include other breeds and ages of dog as it progresses. The information gained will be used to identify the factors which affect the well-being and ongoing health of dogs, so that we can avoid problems in the future. We hope that Dogslife will uncover patterns of minor events which may seem trivial at the time but which could give insight into the later development of more serious conditions.
We also now realise that we can learn about human health by looking at the diseases experienced by dogs. Dogs are more similar to humans than you might think, and we can study them to understand conditions which they share with us, like cardiovascular disease, arthritis, cancer and allergies. This will increase the treatment options for us as well as our canine companions.
Dogs whose lives are recorded through Dogslife will be contributing to our knowledge of what makes a healthy dog, which will benefit all dogs and their owners.
Dogs turning 1 year old
Over the coming year, dogs born in 2011 will be having their 1st birthday. When dogs turn one year of age, their Dogslife record only needs to be updated every three months. On the dog’s birthday, we will send owners an email to wish their dog a happy 1st birthday and to remind them that their dog's record now only requires three-monthly reports about their dog’s health.
At the same time, we will invite owners to upload four specific photos of their dog to enable us to assess their dog’s mouth, ear and body. We ask for these photos because we plan to evaluate the usefulness of digital images for the assessment canine health, with reference to the information owners have already kindly detailed. For example we can assess tartar build up on the teeth, in relation to the diet fed, and the relative size of individuals in relation to the quantity of food fed.
For more information on how to take the photos and upload the images, please login and go to: www.dogslife.ac.uk/owner_upload/manage
What’s happening with your dog’s data?
We have been collecting data from Dogslife members for nearly a year, and some trends are already emerging. Interestingly, when participants tell us what the main reason for owning their dog is, most own their Labrador Retriever as a pet (87%), rather than for working (9%), breeding or showing (3%), or other (1%). From the data provided so far, 24% of dogs required non-routine veterinary attention, for illness or injury, with each dog requiring an average of 2.3 visits to the vet.
All the information participants have diligently recorded each month can now be put to use. For example, we can start to develop a “growth chart” for Labrador Retrievers to show how the population grows with time (Figure 1). The dots on the graph represent each of the values members have entered about their dogs. The “average” line is the central blue line through the thick area of the data points. The upper and lower blue lines show the range of heights where we expect to see the values for 95% of dogs (95% prediction intervals).
Above: Figure 1 - The growth curve (height at the withers related to age) of dogs participating in the Dogslife project. Each dot represents one data entry.
Clearly there is a degree of variation in any Labrador’s height at different time points. This is expected - after all we come in all shapes and sizes as well! You might notice that there are a few dots outside the “prediction intervals”. These points could represent extreme variation (very short or tall dogs), or errors such as mistakes in measuring, or accurate measurements which have been recorded as “centimetres” rather than “inches”. Over the next six months we will be contacting owners to check height and to measure how much variability there is in measuring a dog’s height by an individual (normal variation). This should help to reduce the number of dots outside the lines, to make our data more accurate.
We know you would like to know where your dog is on the graph! Obviously, we don’t want to give you inaccurate information, and the more data we receive, the more accurate it becomes. So we plan to add the growth curve (as above) of the Dogslife population to your dog’s height chart on their profile in the near future.
A snapshot of Dogslife data
Over the first nine months of the Dogslife project, the website received over 6000 unique visitors, and on average approximately 28 new members join the project each week. Puppies are on average 119 days old when they are registered, and the distribution of their coat colours and the ratio of males to females is almost identical to that of the population registered with the Kennel Club over the same period of time (see Figure 2 below).
Above: Figure 2 - The ratio of males (blue) to females (pink), and different colours is virtually identical between the Dogslife participants and the population of Labrador Retrievers registered over the same period.
Sometimes illness risk depends on where a person or pet lives. The reasons may be complex including weather, pollution and a host of other factors. With the majority of Dogslife dogs we can pin down their rough location using their owner’s postcode. As we analyse the data we will use these rough locations to see if there is any geographical pattern to illness and injury. In the mean time, we can show you where the Dogslife dogs are registered and the distribution of coat colours and gender. When we look at this data we have to be careful as humans are notorious for seeing patterns when they don’t exist. We’ll be using clever statistical techniques to check out any hints of illness clustering we may find. See what you think about clustering of coat colours and genders of the Dogslife population on the maps below.
Every time a new dog is registered on the Dogslife website we record the date so that we can track recruitment of puppies to the project. As you can see from the graphs below, the number of new dogs joining each week varies a little but overall the recruitment has stayed reasonably constant after the initial build up from July to August in 2010. There was a minor dip in the winter; we’re blaming the snow!
Dogslife hope to recruit around 1500 Labrador Retrievers within the first year and plan to continue recruitment for a second year, until June 2012. Through regular updates on the health and lifestyle of dogs over their lifetime, Dogslife will be able to analyse incidence and risks for common diseases as well as identifying potential risk factors for rarer conditions.
Over 80% of active participants have completed at least one data entry in the last three months. Huge thanks go to everyone who joins Dogslife and keeps their dog’s record up to date; the contribution and commitment of our members is crucial to the success of the study and finding out what keeps dogs healthy!
